Newbie seeking for advice reddit / selfhosted ---------------------------------------------------------------------- nHaknG · 2023-12-01 12:42 Hey everyone, I'm planning on recycling my old pc (i7, 16GB Ram) into a home server and I'm unsure about the best approach. Here are my options: **Option A:** Boot on OMV or TrueNAS and build everything from there using containers for NextCloud, Plex, etc... **Option B:** Boot on Proxmox, allocate a VM dedicated to OMV/FreeNAS, and another VM running Ubuntu for Nextcloud, Plex, etc... Thanks for your help, Newbie ---------------------------------------------------------------------- New_d_pics · 2023-12-01 13:04 Just did this with an old PC bout the same specs this month, Proxmox for sure. I didn't even bother reinstalling OMV, just ZFS pooled all my spare drives then shared em via nfs ---------------------------------------------------------------------- nHaknG · 2023-12-01 13:18 Great, thanks a lot! I guess running Proxmox is a lot more versatile as you can add a VM at any time to add a service. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- IceOleg · 2023-12-01 13:28 I do option B, but use Fedora IoT as the hypervisor OS. It's nice to treat the OMV VM almost as an appliance, instead of having it be a carefully crafted do everything box. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- New_d_pics · 2023-12-01 13:34 Yep it's a bit of a learning curve at the beginning, but very much worth it. I've now switched 2 additional PCs to Prox and can move VM's or LXC's to any of the 3 nodes with 1 click. This way I can do maintenance on the host PC and never interrupt my containers. I've also been slowly switching from VM's to LXC's lately because they run so lightweight. You can create and boot an lxc in under a minute, update it, then install your program/app directly onto the container as opposed to installing docker/podman etc. I use individual lxc's for both Plex and Jellyfin, then I leave all my arrs and download clients in a single VM. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- AnApexBread · 2023-12-01 13:34 I generally recommend you consider what you're primary requirement is. If you predominantly want a media server and file storage then TrueNAS makes the most sense. But if you predominantly want to run VMs then Proxmox. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- roycorderov · 2023-12-01 14:07 I am a newbie too and I started with an simple installation of omv and there placed dockers but then went on to use proxmox everything became simpler and better. Now I use several basic containers for my life and own business including the NAS currently stop using omv and install synology and I find a change for the better from heaven to earth, and the time and difficulty you will have learning one is the same learning the other so I recommend closed eyes proxmox and synology or (xpenology for proxmox installations), omv can be much more difficult because it is not as versatile and intuitive as it is the synology system, I fully support youtube as there are many videos that teach step by step and also the communities as reddit ---------------------------------------------------------------------- nHaknG · 2023-12-01 14:25 Thanks for the advice. I actually use Fedora on my main PC, I'll look at the IoT version for the hypervisor then! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- nHaknG · 2023-12-01 14:30 Awesome! I'll take a deeper look at those LXC's, it seems very powerful. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- nHaknG · 2023-12-01 14:33 Thanks! I think I'll go have some fun with VMs even though it might be overkill for my usage. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- IceOleg · 2023-12-01 15:01 If you do go that route, you'll want to install Cockpit for management. IIRC I used these [instructions for CoreOS](https://cockpit-project.org/running) to set up Cockpit. Be aware that Fedora IoT is to Fedora Server what SilverBlue is to Workstation - an immutable OS. For me immutability was what I wanted for the hypervisor, but I know there are plenty of people who steer clear of it. I have the following packages installed with `rpm-ostree`: btrfs-progs cockpit-machines cockpit-networkmanager cockpit-ostree cockpit-podman cockpit-selinux cockpit-storaged cockpit-system libvirt libvirt-daemon-driver-storage-logical I haven't used Proxmox, but I think it will be a much more turn key solution than Fedora IoT is. Proxmox is purpose built for what you want. IoT + Cockpit is a slight bit more DIY, and not as many features, but I think it works great for this purpose. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- nHaknG · 2023-12-01 17:13 Awesomeee! Thanks for the insight, I might stick to Proxmox in the end because of all the tutorials and "ease of use". But, I'll definitely examine what Fedora IoT+Cockpit is capable of. The fact that it is an immutable OS definitely makes it more reliable. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- nHaknG · 2023-12-01 17:41 Thanks a lot, I think I'll go with Proxmox then :) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- IceOleg · 2023-12-01 17:54 > But, I'll definitely examine what Fedora IoT+Cockpit is capable of. The fact that it is an immutable OS definitely makes it more reliable You could use a Fedora IoT VM to run your containerized services on. Comes with the extra benefit that you get to learn podman, quadlets, and `.kube` files! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -SPOF · 2023-12-02 03:57 In my home lab, I use option B. I've just set up Proxmox with a StarWind CVM VM, built on Ubuntu, and I utilize it for storage. You can use OVM/FreeNAS for this role as well.